My face fell at the mention of Seth having been througha lot, and Ruthie looked guilty, like maybe she thought I already knew his story.
“It’s not my story to share,” she whispered.
I simply nodded, my heart hammering in my chest as I looked at Seth in a new light.
Had he lost someone, too? Or maybe he’d had a medical scare. Now, it was going to eat at me until I figured it out. I had been too busy yelling at the guy to try to get to know him.
“Walk me out?” Ruthie asked me, and I nodded.
“Bye, girls. See you next week!” Maggie waved.
I waved back, not even arguing about meeting up next week because I’d had more fun than I’d thought I would. I grabbed my now empty Crock-Pot and followed Ruthie outside. The wind smacked into us as the door opened, and I shivered. White balls of fluff fell from the sky and onto the steps.
First snow! It was snowing.
I now regretted the dress, even if it was long.
Ruthie smiled, looking up at the sky as small flakes fell onto her nose, but I could only view the little white fluffs with dread.
I wasn’t ready for snow. I had to get electric animal drinkers so the water wouldn’t freeze. I’d have to blow out the sprinkler lines. I had?—
“You okay?” Ruthie looked up at me, and Irealized she was at the bottom of the stairs, already waiting for me, and there was a line at the top as everyone waited to come down.
I was stuck halfway, thinking of the snow and all the work it would be for me now that James was gone.
“I…just wasn’t ready for snow yet.” I shared, laughing nervously.
“I can help ya.” Seth’s deep voice came from behind me, and I swallowed hard.
“That’s okay. I’ll figure it out.”
Why was I so stubborn?
“I can help you, too,” Ruthie said. “You wouldn’t believe what I’ve learned to do since Zach died. I have an air compressor and can blow out sprinkler lines in ten minutes.” She snapped her fingers.
I grinned at that. I really liked Ruthie.
“I’ll be fine,” I assured them both as I walked down the steps and pulled my coat tighter around me.
“You need a ride?” Ruthie noticed me looking across the distance of the two houses, and I laughed.
“That would be nice.”
I got into her little Mazda and held the Crock-Pot on my lap. I watched Seth struggle to get into his house with the two piled-high plates and bowl and smiled. But I found myself wondering what hard times he’d been through like Ruthie had mentioned.
Ruthie began to drive us toward my house. “So, do you want to hear my story?” she asked.
Ihadwanted to know how she’d lost her husband so young, but I didn’t want to pry. “If you don’t mind sharing,” I told her as she pulled up to my house and put the carinto park. The heat blasted out of the vents, and we both put our hands up to warm them.
“I met Zach at a church conference when I was eighteen. We were engaged by nineteen and married by twenty. I knew God had chosen him just for me. He was everything I wanted in a man. He was so funny, we laughed all the time, and he supported my dreams, pushing me to open my own bakery at twenty-two when most people didn’t even own a house yet, much less a business.”
I smiled. “He sounds amazing.” He sounded a lot like James.
She sighed wistfully as she reached up to grasp the ring she wore at her neck. “After only two years of marriage, Zach had an accident at work. He was in construction, working on the new mall over in the next town, when the wire holding a beam snapped and it came down and crushed him. He died instantly.”
It was like all the oxygen had been stolen from the car and I couldn’t breathe. My heart bled for Ruthie at that moment. How tragic and unexpected.
“My future, my happiness, my forever. Crushed and died instantly,” she said, her face contorting. It was so similar to how I’d lost James.
